Cessna O-1 / L-19 Bird Dog details Pt. II.

Here you can find the cockpit interior details of Cessna Bird Dog. If you need also the outer reference material, please click my previous post with some walk-aroud shots. All the photographs posted below were shot by Juraj Bojkovsky to whom I am deeply thankful. He was told I am a real Bird Dog fan who likes to get every detail documented thorougly. Now It has to be said – he made an excellent work for all of us modellers!

Two Bird Dogs were photographed during the same visit. Both machines had so similar interiors I decided not to divide the photographs into separate batches, but mix them instead. So if you find any differencies in specific details, this will be the reason why it is so.

This photo material is really vast and I tried to find some way how to present it in some proper way. For your convenient orientation all the photographs were sorted into several sections: First of all you will look inside the cockpit through the open door. Later you would focus on the front section, then on the rear one, the floor and the ceiling wall separately.

1/ Peeping into plane – through the door.

This sequence of photographs were shot nearly from the same spot – standing in front of the opened crew door.

Firstly the camera is looking toward the nose and the main instrument panel (picture above). Later the camera wil turn to the left in steps towards the rear portion of the cockpit.

This is the foremost section of the pilot ‘s office roof (picture above). Please do not miss the left upper corner of a visible windscreen half – here is the point where the wing leading edge meets the windscreen glass.

The different conditions of two airplanes are well visible here – one plane had the pilot’s backrest torn (picture above), while the other has the seat in order (picture below).

Now the camera is looking towards the left-hand (port) side cockpit wall (picture below). Bird Dog has the dual throttle quadrants here.

And both planes again – with some subtle and unimportant differences (upper and lower pictures). You can also see the position in which the pilot’s side windows can be kept open – outwards and up.

Another turn to the left now…

…and we see the rear crewman (observer) seat here – and the top wall above his office.

The rear side windows can be opened too – but inwards – unlike the front side windows (as shown earlier). You can see the right-hand (starboard) side window open here and fixed just below the roof (upper left corner of the picture below).

The observers’s side instrument panel can be better seen on this lower picture:

You can see the perforated fuselage rib behind the rear seat (picure above). The area behind this seat is documented further below in Rear portion section.

As you can see the rear control stick is unmounted for some unknown reason in this plane – laying on the floor near the left-hand (port) side wall (picture below). The small silverish grey thing at the seat edge is part of the crewman harness.

Now we can continue with documenting the cockpit even deeper. We will begin with the front portion.

2/ Front portion

This section is focused on the inner front area of the cockpit – the pilot’s office details.

The camera is looking towards the main instrument panel and slightly to the right-hand (starboard) side with the opened door (picture above).

Now the camera turns a bit to the left showing us the whole instrument panel (picture below).

All the controls and instruments can be seen on these shots taken from a little different angles.

Here we have both planes for comparison again (upper and lower pictures).

Here you can see the midpoint behind the windscreen where two tiny tubes – serving as a frame inforcement – meet (lower picture). Please note: The upper endings of these struts can be seen in chapter 1. Similar struts can be found behind the rear seat too.

This is the lower right corner of the main instrument panel close-up (picture below) with rudder pedal details.

Photograph below looks like taken from the rear seat looking forwards – but it was shot throuhg the opened rear side-window instead.

And now let us look rearwards.

3/ Rear portion

This section is focused on the inner rear area of the cockpit – the observer’s office and area behind it.

Here we can see the rear seat – the camera is looking towards the airplane’s tail. Those two inclined bars just in front of the rear window are the reinforcement struts again:

Now let us look closer …

… and behind that seat:

Here is the place where both of the strutting beams meet the fuselage rib (upper picture). The observers’s shoulder belt wheel is attached to this point too.

Here is a closer look – so you can see deeper inside the fuselage (lower picture).

This is the area just behind the rear seat looking over the backrest stright down and bit backwards (lower picture).

The same place but looking more aside. Control wires running along the fuselage bottom are well visible here.

Let us stay focused on the floor details. I am sure there is always enough to find here.

4/ Floor

We are still behind the rear (observer’s) seat – looking downwards – but we made a 180° turn looking towards the nose of the airplane (picture below).

We can see the shoulder belt dropped behind the rear seat just behind the avionics box (picture above).

This portion of the floor is in between the seats. As you can see the observers’s control stick is unmounted in this airplane again. If it was, the stick would stand from the opening visible just afore the [rear] seat front edge (picture below).

Here you can see the same place but from another angle. The rudder pedal is in a very nice deatail. Also the complete pilot’s harness and the fire extinguisher are well visible here.

Please note: The shoulder belt is fixed to the floor joint by a wire.

Camera moved slightly toward the nose and we see the pilot’s seat tiny metal frame. Also do not miss the way how the pilot’s belt is fixed to the floor.

Now the camera reached the engine firewall from the cockpit side (picture below). You can see the area below the main control panel here.

The same part of the floor in front of the pilot’s seat again – but the camera came upwards looking down:

A look nearly from the top of a cockpit – but photographed in the other airplane (lower picture).

And finally the camera can turn upwards to show us the cockpit top wall.

5/ Ceiling wall

We are beginning with the frontmost part of the ceiling wall just behind the windscreen (two pictures below).

Windscreen near the right side of the [upper] picture.

Now the windscreen is in lower-left quarter of the [lower] picture.

The camera is turning to the right – showing us the middle portion of the top wall:

… and the rear portion:

Looking backwards and up:

We can see the ceilings of both photographed airplanes.

Did you notice all six roof windows? They can not be opened. That window with a grayish frame positioned close to the ceiling is the [right-hand] rear side window opened inwards – and fixed up.

So this is all what Juraj has provided me to publish and thus append to my previous article dedicated to the Cessna Bird Dog plane – thank you again Juraj!

And not to forget … I highly recommend the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog diorama in 1/48 scale – a very nice build.

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